ISIL video purportedly shows killing of Russian spy

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Wednesday released a video purportedly showing the beheading of a man the armed group alleges was a Russian spy that its fighters captured last year, the SITE monitoring group reported.

The video shows the man sitting in an orange jumpsuit and giving details of his apparent recruitment by Russian intelligence services.

Then, in a different outdoor location, an ISIL fighter, who in Russian threatens Moscow with attacks, appears to cut the man's throat and sever his head.

The video appears to be the group’s first claim to be holding a Russian hostage. Moscow has not reported that any of its citizens are held by ISIL.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

SITE said the video was from Raqqa province, ISIL's main stronghold in northern Syria.

Russia's security service, the FSB, declined to comment. There was no immediate comment from Russia's foreign ministry.

ISIL has beheaded an unknown number of hostages in numerous videos, both Western prisoners and people from the Middle East, including soldiers fighting against it and Muslims who reject its hardline version of Islam.

British Tornados Launch Airstrikes Over Syria

A spokesman for the Ministry Of Defence confirmed RAF tornados have just returned from their "first offensive operation over Syria and have conducted strikes".

Earlier Four Tornado GR4s took off from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus.

Sky correspondent Jonathan Samuels, reporting from the base, said two had returned "missing three Paveway bombs each".

Sky's Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall said the first missions were launched "barely an hour" after Parliament voted in favour of airstrikes.

"This is a show of intent from the Government," he said.

"Clearly they had some pre-planned targets ready to go if the vote was a yes ... they did not want to hang around."

The tornados will be a small but significant addition to the coalition strike force in Syria and more aircraft will soon be joining them from the UK.

Six typhoon jets from RAF Lossiemouth are expected to head to Cyprus along with more Tornados from RAF Marham in Norfolk.

Their British designed Brimstone missiles are a vital asset with their ability to hit targets with remarkable accuracy and limit collateral damage.

Barack Obama has welcomed the vote agreeing to expand military action against IS.

The US President said it demonstrated the coalition's "unity and resolve".

San Bernardino Shooting Is Deadliest Since 2012

A shooting in San Bernardino, California Wednesday is already the deadliest shooting in the United States since 2012.

Police say at least 14 people are dead and another 17 are injured after gunmen opened fire at a center for people with developmental disabilities. That death toll is the most since 20 children and 6 adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in December 2012.

The deadliest shooting in American history occurred in 2007 when a student at Virginia Tech killed 33 people, including himself. The San Bernardino shooting comes just days after 3 people were killed in a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood last Friday.

What to Know About the Center Where the San Bernardino Shooting Occurred

The San Bernardino, Calif. center that was the scene of a deadly shooting on Wednesday has long been a source of help for developmentally disabled people, providing services to thousands of clients.

Inland Regional Center serves about 30,000 developmentally disabled people, including children, each year, according to Nancy Lungren, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Developmental Services, which runs the facility.
About 640 employees work out of the building in San Bernardino, she told TIME.

As more than 100 police officers flooded the scene of the shooting on Wednesday, workers locked themselves in their offices to stay safe until police told them it was safe to leave.

The attack came on the heels of Inland Regional Center’s holiday party on Tuesday.

According to the enter’s Facebook page, staff members provide services to people living in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, from babies to senior citizens. “Inland Regional Center coordinates with generic services to normalize the lives of people with developmental disabilities and their families by working to include them in the everyday routines and life rhythms of the community and by facilitating needed supports for them,” the organization says. The center opened in 1971.

According to the organization’s website, it was holding a Holiday Boutique on Wednesday morning and afternoon, and had plans to host a Winter Dance on Friday.

Isis, Isil, IS or Daesh? One group, many names

When talking about the group - which has also spawned affiliates elsewhere in the Middle East, Africa and Asia - UN and US officials generally use the acronym "Isil", the acronym of "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant". 

The group itself has not used that name since June 2014 when it declared the creation a caliphate and shortened its name to "Islamic State" (IS) to reflect its expansionist ambitions. 

Since then, BBC News has been using that term, but qualifying it as "Islamic State group" or "self-styled Islamic State" and shortening it to "IS" on subsequent mentions.

Other media have continued to use "Isil" or "Isis", which is based on the other widely used translations of the group's former name - "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" or "Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham".

But the term "Daesh" (or Da'ish) has also gained currency, both in the Middle East and further afield, and has been used as a way of challenging the legitimacy of the group due to the negative connotations of the word.

Daesh is essentially an Arabic acronym formed from the initial letters of the group's previous name in Arabic - "al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil Iraq wa al-Sham". Although it does not mean anything as a word in Arabic, it sounds unpleasant and the group's supporters object to its use. 

Daesh also sounds similar to an Arabic verb that means to tread underfoot, trample down, or crush something.

IS, Isil and Isis

The root of the Isil-Isis inconsistency lies in the Arabic word "al-Sham".

At first, news outlets were unsure how to translate it into English, as it was not immediately clear what the group was actually referring to.

Al-Sham can be translated variously as "the Levant", "Greater Syria", "Syria" or even "Damascus".

The term al-Sham was commonly used during the rule of the Muslim Caliphs from the 7th Century to describe the area between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, Anatolia (in present day Turkey) and Egypt.

It was used until the first half of the 20th Century, when Britain and France drew the new borders of the Middle East and created nation states. 

The term "Levant" had for centuries been used by English speakers to describe the eastern part of the Mediterranean, with its islands and the countries adjoining.

After World War One, the colonial powers understood it to be the area comprising what is now Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and part of south-eastern Turkey.

However, the term's colonial association means it would be unlikely to be endorsed by the jihadists. They would also probably object to using just "Syria", as it suggests their aspirations are limited to the modern state's borders. Various experts have therefore said that the word al-Sham should not be translated.

Daesh

In the Arabic-speaking world, where the use of acronyms is otherwise uncommon, Daesh is used widely but with pejorative overtones.

The label has gained currency despite or perhaps as a direct consequence of the irritation it causes the group, and is now used widely across the world by politicians and in the media.

"Frankly, this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam, nor is it a state," UK Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament in December 2015 when announcing that his government would be joining France in calling the group "Daesh" rather than "Isil".

Record number of gun sale background checks on Black Friday

The agency processed a record 185,345 background checks — roughly two per second — the same day that three people were killed and nine others wounded in an attack at a Planned Parenthood office in Colorado.

The agency received about 5 percent fewer background check requests on Black Friday in 2014, the FBI said.

FBI background checks processed by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System are conducted for gun purchases from federally licensed deals and for permits to carry guns. A background check does not mean a gun was purchased but manufacturers rely on the background check statistics as a measurement of the industry's health.

The FBI started processing background checks for potential gun owners in 1998 as part of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.

The previous record for the most background checks in a single day was Dec. 21, 2012, about a week after 20 children and six adults were shot to death in a Connecticut elementary school. The week following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary saw the processing of 953,613 gun background checks.

After the Colorado shootings, President Barack Obama once again called for stricter limits on the availability of guns.

"Enough is enough," Obama said in a statement on Saturday. He said the Planned Parenthood shootings showed the need to "to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war" for "people who have no business wielding them."

Robert Lewis Dear, 57, is accused of killing a local police officer and two others in the shooting rampage. He is expected to be formally charged later this month.

Law enforcement officials have not disclosed details about multiple weapons found after Dear's arrest.

‘Britain Safer Tonight’ As MPs Back Airstrikes

The controversial Government plans were approved by 397 votes to 223 - a majority of 174.

Sky sources say 67 Labour MPs backed airstrikes, including deputy leader Tom Watson, while seven Tories rebelled in opposition to action.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: "Britain is safer tonight because of the decision the House of Commons has taken."

But the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was said to be "disappointed" at the defeat.

Anti-war protesters who had been demonstrating outside Westminster booed after hearing the outcome of the vote.

A cross-party bid to block UK airstrikes in Syria was also rejected by 390 votes to 211 - a majority of 179.

The votes followed a highly charged Commons debate lasting more than 10 hours, in which the Prime Minister stressed the threat posed by the extremists, whom he branded "woman-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters".

However, Mr Corbyn warned against an "ill-thought-out rush to war".

Critics of the Government's plan challenged claims that 70,000 moderate fighters would be able to take on IS.

The most impassioned speech of the day was made by shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who in a highly unusual move closed the debate for Labour with a speech in support of military intervention.

He was among a number of senior Labour figures to defy the Labour leader and speak in favour of airstrikes.

Mr Corbyn had been forced to give his MPs a free vote amid splits within his frontbench team and the threat of resignations.

Mr Benn was applauded from both sides of the Commons chamber for his speech.

He said: "We must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria."

Mr Hammond said: "We are very pleased that a significant number of Labour MPs have voted with the Government tonight so we have got a clear majority across the House of Commons in support of the action that we are now going to be taking to degrade this evil terrorist organisation."

David Cameron said: "I believe the House has taken the right decision to keep the UK safe - military action in Syria as one part of a broader strategy."

Labour shadow cabinet member Diane Abbott said a majority of MPs had backed Mr Corbyn.

"He will be proved to be right," she said, but insisted there would be no recriminations.